Success Starts Here!

There are a lot of my friends who are posting photos and reminders on FB and other social media sites about the reason for the season. Many have and will post notes urging friends to remember the purpose behind Memorial Day weekend, which is absolutely NOT grilling some steaks and drinking some beers. Having said that, I will be grilling some steaks, and while I don't drink anymore, definitely drinking a few sodas or some cold "welcome to summer lemonade :)." I will do it because to me, the greatest way I can think of to honor my brothers and sisters in uniform who have made the ultimate sacrifice, is to "LIVE" my life. That is what I would want of my friends and family if I passed away; that they live the lives I cannot. I think back to my deployment to Afghanistan some years ago and I think of good friends like Rick and Tony, Vanessa and Laly, John, Rob, Eric, and my right hand man and partner in crime, Chris. That was a tough deployment, a tough 15 months,

Mom,   From where you sit today, perched above the heavens, chances are you already know the things I did which weren't the "best" as a child. So I'd just like to publicly apologize on this special day when I honor you, my beautiful mother, and all mothers out there. Here's a list, not a complete list because the years have been long and the brain cells don't work as well as they once did. But here's my confession: 1. I didn't mean to, but I sat on the parakeet. I let him out to play with him when you weren't home and he got lost. I sat down to think about where he could be and low-and-behold, I found him, squished under me. I put him back in the cage and hoped you'd think he died a natural death. 2. Remember when the power went out in the house and right before it you heard a loud explosion coming from my bedroom? Science experiment to gain superpowers gone wrong. 3. That toilet that overflowed into the hallway, well the truth is it wasn